Lyft kickstarts self-driving car pilot in Boston

Lyft’s first self-driving car pilot is now live in Boston. Launched with its self-driving partner nuTonomy, the pilot program gives “select” Seaport-area passengers a ride in one of nuTonomy’s self-driving Renault cars.

Though the pilot is limited to a select part of Boston, it’ll get crucial data to broaden and improve the program. The cars are not completely driverless, as human safety drivers will remain behind the wheel, ready to take control when needed.

nuTonomy in its blog post elaborated on its partnership with Lyft that was signed in June this year. “Our partnership with Lyft has two goals. First, we want to let members of the public experience driverless vehicles firsthand, so they can better understand the impact this new technology will have on their lives. Second, based on feedback from pilot participants, nuTonomy’s engineers will adapt and improve our system, so that we can deliver an autonomous transportation experience that is extremely safe, efficient, and comfortable.”

The pilot marks a big step forward for Lyft that has seen its fortune grow as its rival, Uber continues to battle scandals and controversies. nuTonomy isn’t the only self-driving company to team up with Lyft. The ride-hail company is working with Drive.ai to deploy autonomous taxis in San Francisco, and also has agreements with Ford and Alphabet’s Waymo.